Claude can now work alongside you in your browser, in your context, on your actual work. Claude can see what you see, click on what needs clicking, and act as your collaborator, sharing the cognitive load of digital work. This guide will help you delegate the right tasks, build effective workflows, and maximize Claude's browser capabilities.
This is experimental technology in active development.
Claude for Chrome is currently available as a research preview to a limited number of users. You can join the waitlist here, and we’ll notify you as soon as you have access.
Review our safety information. before getting started. Always be mindful of what data is visible to Claude, and avoid using the extension for sites involving financial, legal, medical, or other sensitive information.
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How Claude Understands Your Browser
The Chrome extension brings Claude directly into your web workflow. Claude operates in your browser with your permissions, your logins, and your context to take action in the sites you use every day.
Visual Intelligence — Claude sees your browser and recognizes the interface the same way you do, through buttons, forms, navigation menus, and content areas.
Contextual Understanding - Claude understands what buttons on the page do. It knows that "Archive" in Gmail removes emails from the inbox, that "Share" in documents grants others access,that form fields labeled "Email" expect email addresses.
Tab Group Awareness — Claude can see and work across all tabs within the same tab group, providing larger context for its workflows. This means Claude can reference information and coordinate actions across multiple tabs.
Persistent Work Across Tabs — Claude continues working when you switch tabs. Start a research task, jump to email to handle something urgent and Claude keeps gathering information as long as Chrome is open. Turn on notifications and Claude will ping you when it needs your permission or a task is complete.
Note: Claude maintains context within a single task but doesn't remember information across sessions.
What makes a good browser task
Not every browser activity suits delegation to the Claude browser extension. Here are a few examples to help you understand which tool to use to work more effectively:
Ideal for Claude for Chrome:
Taking action on specific websites like filling forms, clicking buttons, navigating interfaces, making changes to live pages
Executing well-defined workflows using shortcuts you've created, repeating proven processes
Specific, targeted tasks or information gathering behind a login or using your permissions
Ideal for Claude apps:
Exploratory research when you don't know exactly where to look and need Claude to discover relevant sources
Complex synthesis across many sources like creating reports that pull from dozens of articles, academic research requiring extensive citations
Better handled yourself:
One-time tasks that are faster to do than explain like single clicks, simple copy-paste, quick edits
Highly subjective decisions requiring nuanced judgment
Learning through doing tasks like exploring new tools or understanding workflows
Creating effective shortcuts
When you find yourself repeating the same request to Claude, you can save it as a shortcut. An effective approach is to start by working with Claude in "ask before acting" mode to carefully develop your instructions. Watch how Claude executes each step, refine your prompt as needed, and iterate until it can reliably complete the entire task end-to-end. Once you’re confident in the workflow, type "/" to create a shortcut, give it a memorable name, and save your instructions. You can then switch to more permissive settings like "act without asking" mode or enable site-wide permissions for smoother execution. From then on, simply type your shortcut command to trigger that entire workflow instantly. Alternatively, if you've already sent a well-crafted prompt in chat, hover over it to reveal a small icon that lets you save it directly as a shortcut.
Shortcuts can be tailored to your specific needs: set them to run on particular websites and schedule them for automatic execution at chosen times, dates, or recurring intervals. This automation is perfect for routine tasks like daily inbox cleanup or weekly report generation .
Additional shortcuts to try:
Taking action:
/vendor-application: Fill out this vendor application using information from our company info document. Pause before submitting for my review
/inbox-cleanup: Go through my mail inbox: archive emails from these senders [list], star anything mentioning deadlines, delete obvious spam. Tell me what you archived and what needs my attention.
Research tasks:
/competitor-scan: Visit [competitor website]. Check: latest blog posts, pricing page updates, careers section for new roles. Note anything new or changed. Summarize in a brief.
/restaurant-finder Search [food delivery site] for [cuisine type] restaurants. Filter by rating above 4 stars, check menus for [dietary preference]. Show me top 3 options with prices.
Communication prep:
/email-batch-draft: For unread emails tagged "needs response": draft replies maintaining my usual tone. Don't send, just stage them for my review. Note which ones need more context from me.
/stakeholder-map: For each person in this meeting invite: look up their professional background, note their role, identify their likely priorities, find any recent posts/articles. Create a pre-meeting brief.
Current Limitations of the Research Preview
As Claude in your browser has limitations that are helpful to understand.
Potential Issues:
Incomplete Processing: Claude may stop mid-task when working through long lists or multi-step workflows. Add verification to your requests: "Process all 47 emails" or "After every 20 items, confirm before continuing."
Variable Results: The same task may be handled differently each time if your instructions contain ambiguous terms. Add examples and specific criteria to clarify.
Speed: Claude for Chrome can be slower than manual execution for many tasks. Allow Claude to complete tedious, repetitive work in the background while you focus elsewhere.
Permission confirmations:
Action-by-action approval: Claude asks before each action—works best when first exploring the extension or on sensitive sites.
Site-level permissions: Grant permission for an entire website you use frequently, streamlining workflows on trusted sites.
Act-without-acting: Claude takes action in your browser without asking—allows Claude to work more autonomously on trusted sites.
Visit our help center to learn more about which actions Claude will always ask permission for, regardless of your settings.
Reduced functionality:
Claude for Chrome is "pure Claude" without extended features of claude.ai, such as Projects, MCP tool connections, or memory between sessions.
Blocked sites:
For safety, Claude cannot access financial services, adult content, or pirated content sites.
Ready to practice?
Claude in your browser represents an early step in our work on AI that can handle increasingly complex workflows and work seamlessly where you do. Try our interactive demo to build confidence before working with real tasks.